Oarlock



Nov. 7, 195o A. L. SHUTTER 2,529,357

OARLOCK Filed May l2, 1949 Patented Nov. 7, 1 950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE v '2,529,357 oARLooK Abram L. Shutter, West Haven, Conn.

Application May 12, 1949, Serial No. 92,817

1 Claim.

Thepresent invention relates to oarlocks and in particular to a self-locking oarlock.

A constant and always vexing problem associated with rowing a boat is that of keeping the oars in the oarlocks and the oarlocks in the boat. Not infrequently a rower, and especially an inexperienced one, will fail to immerse an oar-blade into the water or else plunge the blade too deep into the water, with the result that the shaft of the oar rides up out of the oarlock. As a consequence, the rower is sometimes unseated and the oar lost into the water. Moreover, when transporting the oars and oarlocks to and from the boat, the necessity for handling the oars and oarlocks separately is an inconvenience.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved oarlock which is durable, economical to manufacture, and in conjunction with an oar easy to operate.

A further object of the invention is to provide a superior oarlock characterized by a pair of horns bent in opposite lateral directions so as to lock the oarlock to an oar in a manner to prevent separation of the oar and oarlock during normal conditions of rowing and transportation.

With the above and other objects in View, as will appear to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure, this invention includes all features in the said disclosure which are novel over the prior art.

In the accompanying drawings, in which certain modes of carrying out the present invention are shown for illustrative purposes:

Figi` 1f is a front elevation of the improved oarlock of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the oarlock of Fig. 1 showing the laterally-offset horns;

Fig. 3 is a top plane view of the oarlock of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the oarlock showing its horns in cooperative engagement with the blade of an oar; and

Fig. 5 is an end elevation partly in section of the oar-blade and oarlock on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

As shown in the drawings, the improved oarlock of this invention is indicated generally at I0 and comprises a substantially U-shaped yoke-portion II and an integral stem I2 projecting substantially vertically from the underside of the yokeportion substantially symmetrically of its respective horns I3 and I4. The lower end of the stem I 2 may be provided with a transverse hole I5 for accommodating' a pin or similar instrument for the gunwale of the boat.

The oarlock is adapted to cooperatively engage the oar with which it is to be used so that after being mounted thereon, the oarlock and its respective oar may not be separated during ordinary usage, the removal of the oarlock from the oar being accomplished only by orienting the oarlock in a specic relationship to the blade of the oar. To these ends, the oarlock is characterized by the specific configuration of its horns I3 and I4 wherein each is curved inwardly with respect to the center of its yoke-portion Il and is formed, as shown especially well in Fig. 2, so as to lean outwardly laterally from opposite sides respectively of a vertical plane coextensive with the longitudinal axis of the stem I2 of the oarlock. Moreover, the horn I4 of the oarlock is slightly longer than its horn I3. These characteristic features of the oarlock permit the oarlock to be assembled on an oar only when oriented in a specic relationship to the blade of the oar. Referring especially to Figs. 4 and 5, the blades of oars are, in general, formed with longitudinal ridges IB--IG on opposite sides thereof which originate at the root II of the blade and blend into the relatively-wide outer end portion I8 thereof, each ridge defining the intersection of those at portions I9 of the blade .which slope downwardly and away from each other and serve to blend the shaft 20 of the oar into its blade.

AAs viewed in Fig. 5, this root-portion II of the oar will be seen to be substantially diamondshaped in cross section, the upper and lower apices I6 of which constitute the corresponding ridges of the oar-blade and the lateral apices 2l of which correspond to the feathered edges of the blade. This prismatic root-portion of the blade varies in thickness from a maximum thickness substantially equal to the minimum diameter of the shaft 20 of the oar to a minimum thickness substantially equal to the thickness of the flattened end-portion I8 of the blade. The maximum distance between the outer ends of the horns of the oarlock is less than the maximum thickness of the root-portion of the blade, and consequently, having assembled the oarlock on the oar in the manner hereinafter described, the oarlock will be held from dropping off the oar throughout that portion of its length which is included between its prismatic root-portion I1 and the upper end (not shown) of its shaft, the diameter of which increases gradually from its root-portion to its handle. Moreover, the maximum transverse dimension of the yoke-portion I I of the oarlock is less than the diameter of the handle-end of the nar and consequently the oarlock will not slide off this end of the oar during transportation, nor will the oar run out of the oarlock in the event the handle of the oar is released while rowing.

As pointed out above, the respective curved horns of the oarlock are offset laterally with respect to each other so that, in effect, ea-ch horn constitutes the partial convolution of a spiral turn about the shaft of the oar so that opposite sides of the oar-shaft are engaged by the correspending laterally-offset horns of the oarlock along spiral-like lines of contact equally spaced.` from and on opposite sides respectively of thel axis of rotation of the stern I2 of the oarlock. In accordance with this construction, the forces exerted against the respective horns of gthe'oarlock during normal rowing operations 'are force moments having moment arms equal to the lat-` eral oset of each respective horn and hence the movement of the shaft of the oar during normal rowing operations positively *rotates the oarlock a-nd,'in particular, its 'stem`l2, `in the socket of the gun'wale Thus, the wearing away of that portion of the voar-"shaft which is in the oarlock ils-reduced, `the rotation of Athe oarlock rbeing acco'rid-painedA by greater ease in rowing.

*Since lthe transverse diameter of the yoke portion Il of the '-o'ar'lock is such as to prevent the oarlock Afrein-'sliding off the handle-end of the `oar, and the distance between the ends of the horns of the oarlock--is'such as to prevent any portion -of the shaft of the oar from riding up out of itheoarlocks; 'the only way in which the oarlock may be separated from the oar is by orienting the horns'of the oarlock in the plane of the oar-blade. As Vpointed out above, the distanceV between the endslof the lhorns is less than the minimum dia-meter ofthe oar-shaft and the corresponding diameter Aof' the root-portion of the bla'de 4'andhence'the oarlock is notfree to be pulled olf of fthe -oar lwhen opposite Veither of these portionsY thereof. Howeven .by sliding the oarlock down *the bl'ad'e with vthe base-portion of tlieyoke 'l Iof the'oa'rloek engaging against one of the feathered edges 2l of the blade and the freef'end'sfof:tliefhornseXtending over the ridges lli-'16, the oarlock will finally arrive at a position wherein vcooperationof the feathered Vedge ofthe blade Iwitlfrfthebase of the-yoke will have drawn the ends of 'the harlock-'horns outwardly over the oppositely'idisposed ridges Iii-I6 of the blade "at a point thereon at which the'thicknessof'the'bladieis slightly'less than the'distance between vthe "ends lof the horns. v.whereupon the oarlock 'is freed from the blade `of:the'oarl In 4 the present embodiment, the point of release of the oarlock occurs substantially halfway down the length of the blade. However, the oarlock will not, in general, arrive at its point of release during normal handling of the oar, since the oarlock provides three points of contact with the blade, namely, engagement of the horns with the respective opposite sides of the blade at longitudinallyfspaced points therealong; and engagement Aof the base of` the jlyoke with the feathered edge l"of the blade. Consequently when the oar is elevated into a position which 1might cause the oarlock to slide down off the blade of the oar, the three-point contact of the oarlock with the blade almost inevitably causes ythe'oarlockto 'bind thereon before reaching its point of release.

Thus, while the oarlock may be Vmounted on and removed from the blade of the voar-manually with ease and dispatch, it has been found that the oarlock will not reach its point of .release from the blade during normal handling and transportation of the lblade and oarlo'ck.

The invention maybe carried out in other specificw'ay's than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential 'characteristicsioffthe invention, andthe presentembodirnents are, therefore, :to -be considered in all. respects as illustrative and lnot restrictive, and a'llchanges coming withinthe meaning and equivalency range of 'the appendedclaim are Yinten'iied to be embraced therein.

oarlock comprising a yoke-portion and a stem projecting rvsubstantially perpendicular from ythe underside of said yoke-portion, said yoke-portion being characterized by a pair of horns, said horns being formed as complementary partially-complete substantiallyespiral convolutions.

' y ABRAM'L."SHUTTER.

REFERENCES CITED The l'following references are of record inthe file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Brita-imin of 1913 

